96' cherokee country 4.0 AW-4 all stock

I was under the jeep today trying to remove the neutral safety switch and everything went smoothly until it was time remove the switch from the valve shaft. I removed the attaching nut and tabbed washer and the switch is seized onto the valve shaft. So, I decided to try and spread the collet open a little bit with a flat head when one quarter of the collet snapped off. so i rotated the shifter and pryed on another one and broke it again! Dumb on my part durka durka . I got frustrated after tearing most of my knuckles open and went inside to warm up. Thats when it dawned on me. I could have left the attaching nut on the collet/valve shaft and used the tranny pan as a fulcrum to pull the switch straight out. Do you think i'll be able to thread the nut back onto the half collet and still successfully pull it out?